A Connection for Authors to Readers

Author Wendy Tyson shares new title, Dying Brand

When image consultant Allison Campbell attends an award ceremony to honor a designer friend, she’s thrust into a murder investigation. Only this time, it’s personal.

A former boyfriend is dead, slain on the streets of Philadelphia. His widow claims he was meeting with Allison, yet Allison hadn’t spoken to him in years. Nothing about his death—or life—makes sense. When compromising photos from their past arrive at Allison’s office, they raise more questions than they answer.

Driven to find justice, Allison deconstructs the image her ex had created for himself, looking for clues about the man he’d become. As her hunt for the truth unveils secrets, Allison’s past and present collide—with deadly results.

CHAPTER ONE

Allison Campbell couldn’t think of anywhere else she’d rather be. Sitting in the Grand Ballroom at the Four Seasons next to her boyfriend, Jason, and her business manager, Vaughn, both of them dressed in evening garb and looking quite dashing, was the last place the image consultant expected to find herself on this early November evening. She’d been scheduled to present at a university ahead of her next book release. Nevertheless, when the invitation to be a guest of honor at Delvar’s award ceremony had arrived a month ago, she’d canceled her other plans and accepted without question.

Delvar’s was a success story of the very best kind.

Allison watched her mentee with maternal pride and the tiniest bit of professional told-you-so from her perch at the stage-side table. Not only was Delvar a sought after designer, but a role model to others. And that second reason was why they’d all gathered on a Saturday night to celebrate.

The gentleman on Allison’s left was engaged in a conversation with Delvar’s mother, and on Allison’s right, Jason was in the midst of a heated discussion with Vaughn. They were talking football, a topic Allison knew little about. Slightly giddy from Dom Perignon and a night away, Allison took advantage of her boyfriend’s distraction to check her email messages. It was then, with her small clutch open and her hand on the mobile device, that her phone rang. Allison answered quickly, without thinking, a move she would later regret.

The woman’s voice was one she recognized. The sound of it, rather like shattering glass or a fork scraped against a ceramic plate, made Allison shudder.

Her name was Leah Fairweather and she was a phantom of Allison’s past.

Allison rose from the table with her phone planted against her cheek and left the award ceremony without a word to her companions. The whimsical lights and excited voices of the Grand Ballroom receded to a dull blur of background noise.

“Are you listening?” Leah asked.

Allison swallowed. She was standing with her back up against the wall of the hotel lobby. She pictured Leah’s white-blond hair as it had been not that long ago: long, thick and curled on the ends. She saw Leah’s hooded grey eyes, that twisted little smile, part vixen, part intellectual snob. Allison knew these memories were colored by feelings of shame and remorse. Her mind had turned Leah Fairweather into a symbol of past regrets, both bigger and uglier than reality. Allison’s hand shook.

“I asked if you were listening.”

“I’m listening,” Allison said.

“Why? Of all the men, why him? You both promised. He said it was over, all of it. For God’s sake, why? And now, this—”

A baby cried in Leah’s background and the sound registered as another accusation. Allison watched as a man in a tuxedo left the ballroom with a fifty-something blond hanging on his arm. They headed toward the doors that led to Arch Street. Allison said, “I’m going to hang up now, Leah. You’re upset. Confused. I haven’t seen Scott in almost five years. Except for a brief encounter, but that was just happenstance—”

“I know you’ve been seeing him.”

“That’s not true.”

“Liar.”

Allison closed her eyes, then opened them, fighting for control. From the corner of her eye, she saw Jason push open the ballroom doors. He looked around, searching for her.

“Good-bye, Leah,” Allison said.

“Wait!”

“I need to go.”

“Scott’s dead.”

Allison grabbed the wall. Her vision constricted, the heady lights becoming starbursts of ivory dancing in front of her face. Scott Fairweather, dead? But she had seen him, what, three weeks ago? He’d seemed fine. Perfectly fine.

“He’s dead, Allison.”

“What happened?”

“I thought maybe you could tell me. What happened to my husband?”

Jason spotted her. He was walking toward her, looking concerned. Allison wanted to hang up. She also wanted to know—had a sudden, crushing need to know—what had happened to her former paramour.

“How would I know what happened to him?”

“You were supposed to have been together the day he died.”

“Together?” The vise on Allison’s skull tightened. She felt Jason’s touch on her elbow, registered his eyes, full of questions. Allison turned toward the wall. She had to get off the phone. With a steadier voice, she said, “That’s not true.”

Wendy Tyson is an author, lawyer and former therapist whose background has inspired her mysteries and thrillers. Wendy has written four published crime novels, including Dying Brand,the third novel in the Allison Campbell Mystery Series, to be released on May 5, 2015. The first in the Campbell series,Killer Image, was named a best mystery for book clubs in 2014 by Examiner.com. Wendy is also the author of the Greenhouse Mystery Series, the first of which, A Muddied Murder, is due to be released just in time for spring 2016. Wendy is a member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers and she is a contributing editor for The Big Thrill, International Thriller Writers’ online magazine. Wendy lives near Philadelphia with her husband, three sons and two dogs. Visit Wendy at:www.watyson.com.